K&R Hydraulics is at hand with a HYDAC dehumidifier to remove water from Andoo Comanche when the 100-foot yacht experiences a hose issue at sea. This is no trifling service considering Andoo Comanche achieves line honours win at the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race for the fourth time.
TP52 Celestial won on handicap whereas Andoo Comanche was forced to take penalty turns during a rough start to the race in Sydney on 26 December 2022.
The finish time was less than three hours off the record set in 2007 for this 600-mile offshore competition race.
The yacht crossed the Derwent River finish line shortly before 1am (AEDT) on 28 December, with a time of one day 11 hours, 56 minutes, and 48 seconds.
She missed breaking the line-hours record time of one day, nine hours 15 minutes and 24 seconds she set for the race in 2017 by about three hours.
(Andoo Comanche yacht - Image credit: Freshscore News - https://www.flashscore.com/news/andoo-comanche-takes-early-lead-in-annual-sydney-to-hobart-yacht-race/Eefbhnuq/)
Rough conditions at sea
It was widely reported that for most of the trip the Andoo Comanche had to contend with rough conditions that started at the race’s advent.
The crew, by its own admission, had to navigate spectator zones that narrowed the course and contend with a 10-foot log hit that chipped the rudder.
K&R Hydraulics and HYDAC dehumidifier involvement
Yachting difficulties are not new to the Andoo Comanche as also clear in her dealings with K&R Hydraulics.
According to the company’s service technician Mat Harding, the hydraulics company had been working with an engineering company that serviced racing yachts for quite some time.
“This saw the engineering company also look after Comanche when it came to town in mid 2022,” Mr Harding says.
“When Comanche experienced a hose issue at sea, the company looked to us to see if we could help.
“It had lost its hydraulic oil and recovered the oil basically to get itself back into the dock. When I saw the oil it was milky – it was nearly as white as milk.”
Mr Harding explains that a marine engineer changed the oil a few more times. However, the oil became “milky” every time the boat started up.
“Here, we could help with the HYDAC FAM-45 filtration, dehumidifier, and degassing unit,” he comments.
HYDAC dehumidifier to the rescue
The HYDAC FAM-45 filtration, dehumidifier, and degassing unit operates on the principle of vacuum dewatering to eliminate dissolved water.
This process also frees and dissolves gases from hydraulic and lubrication fluids.
The dehumidifier has an Aqua Sensor AS 1000 for continuous monitoring of the water content and for controlling the unit.
Contamination Sensor CS 1000 is also used for simultaneous monitoring of solid particle contamination.
Use of dehumidifier tricky business
Mr Harding explains that it was necessary for K&R Hydraulics to test the unit at its workshop to ensure it could pull off the task at hand.
“This is because it would be used two metres below deck level on the Comanche,” he exclaims.
The hydraulics company had to make use of a top crane to lift the dehumidifier onto the boat and then hook it up to two 100L hydraulic tanks on the boat.
“The hydraulic tanks, with no access into them, were made of carbon fibre. The fact that they couldn’t be opened was a reason for why the marine engineer couldn’t get the water out,” Mr Harding points out.
“We proceeded to hook the dehumidifier up and let it do its thing while having a bucket at hand for the excess water coming out.
“The relative humidity started to come down after five or six hours of running roughly 200L of tank oil.”
Once the relative humidity had reached 20%, the oil returned to a yellow colour.
“We then started the engine on the boat to allow the hydraulics to start and then watched the relative humidity of the oil increasing again via the dehumidifier,” he says.
“We turned the boat off once it was back at 90% and then brought it back to 20% again. We repeated this process continually till there was no change in humidity when we started the boat.”
Once K&R Hydraulics was satisfied with the setup, it began to introduce functions and repeat the process, looking at the colour of the oil prior to starting.
“We would have loved to get necessary results, but we did more: we smashed it out the park,” Mr Harding says.
“I believe the marine engineer had tried to solve the problem by spending a couple of days doing full oil changes to no avail before using the dehumidifier.”
K&R Hydraulics service and use of the HYDAC FAM-45 filtration, dehumidifier, and degassing unit saw the “bulk of the process” being completed within 10 hours.
“The marine engineer was impressed with the workings of the dehumidifier and the interest of the boat community on the docs was sparked, with much chatter as to what was going on and how it would help the boat gain speed,” Mr Harding says.
“It was very entertaining – it’s not every day that you see that sort of unit on a racing boat.”
(Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - Image credit: Cruise Yacht Club of Australia - https://cyca.com.au/event/rolex-sydney-hobart-yacht-race/)
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